


Love you, man

by wanderingsmith



Series: Reactions [2]
Category: The Expendables (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2015-03-01
Packaged: 2018-03-15 18:03:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3456653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wanderingsmith/pseuds/wanderingsmith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"WHAT THE *HELL* do you think you're doing??!"<br/>Samwise looked over at him, all six and a half hulking feet of him, still holding the boss up on his tiptoes by the back of his collar on the other side of the hastily made camp.<br/>--<br/>Lee's gun lowered as he walked over, really noticing, now, the way the boss' face looked completely dumbed down.  And the arms that should be trying to punch Sam, or at least windmilling, looked an awful lot more like he was trying to hug the man.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love you, man

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I ain't got no money, and nobody'd be daft enough to pay me for this. As it is thought, so let it be said; you make the toys, I play with 'em.
> 
> *** This is NOT in the same Universe as 'Trust' ***
> 
> -shrug- I tend to get concepts stuck in my head.

"That's deep, Barney. Sure we can't change our pickup to be here instead of over the border?" Barney flinched as Doc wiped a little too close to the edges of the stab wound in his thigh and he eased up as much as he could while still working the blood off. 

"Not a chance. He's just a local guy. Could never pay him enough to cross the border."

Doc grimaced. Wasn't like he hadn't guessed. "Definitely hafta stitch you up for the walk out."

"Figured."

Returning Barney's tired look with sympathy, Doc looked away to start pulling out his surgery kit, hesitating when he went to pull a shot of morphine and looking up, "You still lose your head?"

Barney turned back from checking on the young'uns coming back from checking their back trail; and glared at the syringe.

More than half expecting the man to try to talk him into doing the work without the painkiller, as he'd been known to do, back in the day, Doc already had some insults ready to give his opinion on the subject. Instead, Barney just grimaced and sighed distinct disgust before reaching for the radio he'd lost and then grumbling, "Call Christmas over."

Gunner would have been more Doc's choice, or Caesar; but he wasn't going to argue. Hell, maybe he just needed to give his SIC instructions. He looked around but then remembered the man'd taken Luna and gone scouting ahead before Barney's team had even made it back to camp so he flicked his radio instead. It only took a second to get a reply. "Yeah?"

"Can you get back to camp, Christmas? Could use your help."

"Was on my way. Be there in a few seconds."

\--

17 years before.

"WHAT THE *HELL* do you think you're doing??!"

Samwise looked over at him, all six and a half hulking feet of him, still holding the boss up on his tiptoes by the back of his collar on the other side of the hastily made camp. 

Lee's eyes narrowed and his gun-point rose a half inch, not aimed at the usually gentle giant.. but that was going to change if the man's fist got even a fraction of an inch closer to the man who'd given Lee a new lease on life a few months ago.

Though the fact that Barney hadn't turned at his yell, and wasn't trying to get away from the man holding him, not at all.. and looked... dopey as hell..

Sam's voice rumbled out over the rest of the team's chuckles as they otherwise ignored the byplay, "It's the morphine, kid. When he gets it in his head he loves ya, ain't much way to make 'im stop but a punch. Just hurts himself when we tie 'im up. And he wouldn't thank me when he woke up for not doing whatever was necessary to stop 'im kissin' me."

Lee's gun lowered as he walked over, really noticing, now, the way the boss' face looked completely dumbed down. And the arms that should be trying to punch Sam, or at least windmilling, looked an awful lot more like he was trying to hug the man.

Then his eyes lit on Lee as he got within a few feet and he smiled brightly, unrecognizable if Lee hadn't seen it happen, "Lee!" The arms were suddenly reaching for *him*. 

And Sam, looking relieved, lowered him back to his feet carefully, giving Lee a only half-sympathetic look, "Watch his arm, Jake had to dig out a fragmented bullet and stitch it up."

Lee hardly had time to process that before his boss stumbled the two steps between them and fell on him with a slurred but heartfelt 'I love you, man!'.

Lee let his gun swing on its strap in favour of scrambling to shift his balance and unwrap the arms pawing around him, "Shit! Barney! Hold *still*!" At least the man's usual dangerous strength had disappeared; but spaghetti-arms were just as challenging to get away from, especially trying not to grip that heavily-wrapped left forearm. He didn't even have time to glare at Samwise, chuckling but at least standing near; no doubt willing to return to his previous plan at any encouragement.

"He doesn't really hear anything anyone says, Christmas."

"Great- Hey!" Lee wrapped his palms around the boss' cheeks at the last second to avoid a wide-mouthed kiss, "Hey! Enough!" He frowned, trying to get angry but too worried, "Barney! Listen to m- dammit." The arms were still trying to wrap around him, and those usually so-calm and steady eyes were shining with- well. 'Love' was the only word that came to mind. For the whole world, most likely. "Barney." The eyes almost focused on him, he thought, so he took a chance, "You want to hug?"

When that resulted in an actual moment of stillness and brightening in the eyes, he tugged the face he still held and stared into those eyes fiercely, "No kissing. You can hug if you stop trying to kiss anyone, got it?? Barney?" He was pretty sure he actually saw a flicker of comprehension, however childish and sad, so he repeated more calmly, "No kissing." When he didn't feel any more fight against his hands, he carefully let the man go and found himself with an armful of sweaty, blood-smelling mercenary. But no sloppy lips on his face.

It took a few heartbeats to find his mental footing and gingerly wrap an arm around his boss while he awkwardly fished his gun up and over his shoulder, freezing when Barney sighed into his chest, body turning so soft that Lee worried he was going to slither to the ground. When he finally looked up, Samwise caught Lee's eyes, looking surprised as shit.

The older mercenary nodded to the fire being built in their little clearing, "Go sit down. You just assigned yourself Barney-duty, which excuses you from camp chores."

\--

Lee was trying to stomp on the automatic worried annoyance at Doc asking for him. Man'd turned out to be a decent enough guy, once he stopped trying to prove something to Lee and the older guys. But those initial reflexes still kicked in, every so often, and made Lee automatically kick back.

Seeing him crouching over Barney, with blood-soaked rags next to them, had him forgetting the annoyance completely and just about diving for them as worry flooded his bloodstream with adrenaline. "What the hell??"

Barney turned his head on the folded up shirt it was pillowed on to look at him tiredly, and waved a hand in 'settle down', "I'm fine, Lee, few stitches and I can walk out fine."

By then Lee was kneeling besides them, distractedly taking off his pack and the rest of the gear hanging on him while he glared at Doc, knowing better than to take Barney's word for *this*.

Doc rolled his eyes in what Lee read as agreement with the glare. "I wouldn't say 'fine', but it's a clean enough cut that missed doing major damage to the muscles. With his stubbornness and painkillers and someone to lean on, he'll hobble well enough."

Lee snorted, ignoring Barney's mock-insulted grumbles and giving him the evil eye, "You *are* stubborn, don't even try. And you *are* taking the painkillers *and* the help or I'll have Gunner *carry* you out!"

That turned the grumbles to a silent furious glare. Which Lee ignored as he cleared the ground around him and sat himself more comfortably against Barney's side while nodding at the watching medic, "Go ahead, Doc."

Doc's brows flew up in surprise, "You know what he gets like?"

Wrapping a hand around Barney's shoulder automatically, Lee gave Doc a confused look, " 'Course I do." As the man finally got going with his damn needle, Lee caught Barney's tight eyes, "Relax Barney. You've never broken our Deal before, no reason for today to be any different." The grunt he got in response made him at least try to twitch a grin at the man, even though he knew it probably failed to come through. Even if the injury wasn't that bad, any field wound could get infected. And they still needed to get out of here- he taped his mike with a frown, "Caesar."

"Yo."

"Setup guard rotations. Two lines of two. Short shifts, don't want anyone tired tomorrow."

"..I take it Barney's injured?"

"Yeah."

"Will do, boss."

"Thought he asked for you so he could put you in charge. I take it that-"

Lee looked away from Doc's bent head as the man's voice cut off and he felt Barney's shoulder suddenly go all soft under his hand and met the mercenary's typical morphined-up look. Once the eyes stopped blinking out of control and focused on him, Lee gave him a firm look, "You remember our Deal?"

After a minute of staring at Lee, one of Barney's hands flung out to wrap around Lee's ankle as the man's uncharacteristic smile widened and he practically burbled, "Love you, man!"

Ignoring the medic's choked snicker, Lee tried to push away the grief that twinged at him whenever he saw that smile, and tightened his hand a little, "You and morphine love the whole world, my friend. But our Deal is: if you *don't* try to kiss people, then you can hug me. Deal?"

The smile dimmed into a sad pout, just like it always did, and Lee made himself stare into the kicked-puppy look firmly until Barney sighed and grumbled 'Deal'; and then started to shift.

"No!" Lee jerked forward to nail the man's shoulders to the ground, "Barney, lay still, damn it!" The betrayed look he got made him roll his eyes, "Fine. Yeah yeah, I know. Just lay there and let *me* move, okay?" It took a few seconds of staring for Barney to finally nod, and then Lee hurriedly got up and crawled up besides his head before looking at Doc, unsurprisingly staring at him in disbelief, "He'll settle down in a minute and you can get him sown up, I'm just going to shift his shoulders a bit." 

He didn't wait for an answer before lifting Barney's shoulders enough to be able to sit down with his thigh behind Barney's neck. "There. Best you can get until Doc's done with you. Now relax, alright?" He kept a hand on Barney's far shoulder to make sure he didn't start shifting again, but still sighed in relief when the drugged man accepted the compromise and turned his head and slumped against Lee's side with fair contentment. 

Lee looked up and met Doc's too-interested stare with the blank look he'd developed years ago for just this situation, "Might want to sit on that leg's knee in case he gets it in his head to shift around, but he should be alright, now." 

Doc nodded slowly, "Done this before, I take it?"

Lee shrugged, turning his eyes to check the rest of the camp coming together around them, "First time it happened, I walked into camp to see one of the guys about to hit Barney. Thought there was a mutiny and damn near shot 'im."

"..Glad it wasn't me."

Thinking about it, Lee snorted agreement with a faint smirk. 

Barney stayed in his spot, and the rest of the crew stayed away; no doubt the old guys had gotten to the newcomers and given them a heads up to stay away from drugged-up Barney. Trying not to shift on the pebble-y ground and disturb his burden, Lee was glad the sky at least looked clear. Early fall in the Czech Republic wasn't a time he wanted to try to sleep soaked to the bone.

"All done. You really going to let him paw you all night?"

Lee just shook his head, too used to the attitude to even associate the old annoyance with his one-time nemesis, muttering more to himself than anything, "What's so bad about getting hugged, anyway?" Seeing that Barney was resting quietly, Lee carefully reached for his pack and pulled out a ration bar and blanket, nodding thanks when Doc handed him Barney's pack. 

He found the extra coat Barney had stashed and put it on, throwing both their blankets over Barney and setting Barney's ration aside for when he stirred; then Lee chewed at his supper while camp settled.

Watching over Barney like this had never felt like an obligation, but these days it wasn't even an imposition. Was relaxing and a time to let some of his usual physical defences go and enjoy touch. He was pretty sure Barney remembered most of these episodes, at least pieces of them, and he hadn't said anything when Lee started letting himself touch back. Just a finger stroking back and forth wherever Barney landed it, or twisting through hair, if he could sneak it. But it gave Lee some much-needed grounding, somehow.

Better, even, than sleeping with Barney snugged up to his front, for some reason.

\--

Doc had made his way to Toll's side, stealing glances behind him as he went; along with the rest of the team's new members, he could see. It was just plain *weird* to see **Barney** calmly laying in the middle of camp; sleeping with his head in Christmas' lap!! Accepting a mug of shitty coffee, he nodded at the show, "Kinda shocked he actually admitted to things enough to *ask* for Christmas."

Toll shrugged, "Guess it's more embarrassing to find out he's tried to kiss his men then to ask a friend's help." They sat staring for a few minutes, watching as Barney stirred and sat up; and then leaned on Christmas' shoulder, the brit's arm around him, to eat his bar. "Used to be, you could almost see him fighting it; this tense edge to him, even while he wrapped himself around Christmas. But a few years ago... was like a switch went off. Suddenly he'd just shut down. Hands himself..us too I guess, off to Christmas, and just... rests."

Doc grunted, "Thought maybe he was just tired." It'd been an unpleasant little escape after finishing their little insertion show. They were all tired enough not to fight as hard as they normally might.

Toll grimaced, reflexively stretching as he sat. "That helps too. Pretty much any time he gets hurt that bad, it's already been a long day. But even in the morning he'll still be quiet. At least as long as Christmas is with him. I remember one really fucked-up mission, Christmas got stuck behind the lines. We didn't know if he was prisoner or not, but Barney had got his arm shot half off. It was...weird. He'd swing from his love the world give us a kiss stupor to these random moments of incoherent lashing out terror. Like some part of him knew we had a man missing and was trying to fight through the morphine. But his arm was so bad we couldn't afford to let him wake enough to move it. Had to keep him knocked out and strapped down the 36 hours it took to find Christmas, hiding out with a broken leg, and get them both to medical help. Bad mission."


End file.
